Halo: The Recruit
by mchmstr
Summary: The new Spartan program has begun, and is headed by none other than the Master Chief. The recruits are good, especially Karen. But when the Covenant invade Thandon, the training grounds, will they be ready?
1. Beginings

Chapter 1: Beginnings  
  
I do NOT own Halo or Halo2 or anything associated with them. I don NOT own Microsoft or Bungie Studios. Also the Halo books Halo: The Fall Of Reach or Halo: The Flood  
//New Software Upload //: Complete  
  
The master chief was staring straight ahead at the forest world Thandon. It had been a colony world until the covenant had attacked many years before. After all the colonists had been killed the covenant had left almost no forces to keep it an actual base, just somewhere for the rejects to go. Then a large human fleet had come through slipspace to take it back. All covenant were killed, while only 129 marines out of 3,000 were killed. The military decided to use Thandon as a new training world to replace Reach. The master chief was to oversee the Spartan 2B program. The chief turned around in time to see the head scientist of the new program come down the stairs to the large observation room, that was one of the only parts of the Thandon base that could be seen outside of the 3,000 foot, granite plateau. The room had very small lights because of the 40 something by 40 something foot windows. In random areas were marines working on holo-comps. The doctor waved as he came closer to the chief. "What is the report so far Dr. Bander?" " Promising. Only two might wash out but those could still become Shock Troopers." He replied with a hint gladness. " When will they get to see the Mark-7 armor and be able to train?". " Don't get to far ahead Master Chief. They are still teenagers they do need to know something when and if this war ends so they could live a semi-normal life," he said shifting his weight looking like he needed to relieve himself. "Is that all?" he asked "I have progress meting I need to go to." "Oh yes." The doctor walked faster than usual to the grav-lift next to the stairs. "Do you want to see them?" whispered a voice in his ear. "Yeah" he replied "Cortana?" "Yes?" "Was the scientist bluffing or are they really ready for training?" "He was bluffing. At the rate they're developing and learning they'll be ready in two weeks." "I think I'll show them the armor today." "Why may I ask?" "I'm impatient. That's why," he said with a joking ness in his voice.  
  
//System Configuration For Subject: Karen //: Complete  
  
Karen was sitting in the female bunks by herself, not that there weren't any girls just that since she was nominated as squad leader the other girls thought she was.different. She was resented by the boys not wanting to follow a girl, and an outsider by the girls for having the boys follow her. She knew she wouldn't get a boyfriend either. Because studies proved that open relationships created strong team bonds, the recruits were allowed to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. But she knew it would never happen to her. On the bunks holo-projector Hubert, a 1700's looking AI, came into view. "All recruits report to room Alpha 1-7-4 ASAP." The figure flickered and disappeared. Karen had never been in the Alpha section before. She decided to just wing it. She figured that since she was on the Delta level it should be two floors up, she was wrong. The bases top ended with Beta not Alpha. Frustrated she called up Hubert on a holo-projector. He told her to go to a grav-lift and enter the code Alpha 1-7-4 into the computer and it would let her enter the level. A technician was waiting when she arrive. She was surprised when she learned that she was the first to arrive. "You'll have to wear a clean suit in this room Karen." Each recruit had a personal technician that usually knew more about the kids then they did. They knew when puberty would start, when they would get hungry, get tired, and when they'd need to go to the bathroom. Most things Karen's tech didn't need to remember anymore, like the puberty date, but she had to remember things that the male techs didn't have to knew also. "You thir- no fourteen now," said the tech. " What. I had another birthday already?" she replied with a small smile finding it's way to her lips. "Yep." The tech hugged Karen, then slugged her fourteen times. " Since your fourteen you need a different suit. Technical reasons." The two walked down a well lit white hallway towards the suit room. The tech grabbed a black suit with blue lines moving in jagged lines across the whole suit. She donned the suit behind a small screen and came out and froze. Looking her in the eye was the master chief. Karen jumped behind the screen covering her body. "What are you doing?" asked the chief. Karen looked around the room trying to find Sarah her tech assistant. "I need Sarah.Sir." She replied. "Why." "I think my suit is too small. It shows too much." She replied with a bit more confidence. "That's how it's supposed to be. Do you have the gloves and socks yet?" "No" she replied walking out from behind the screen. "Here, just put them on. They'll do the rest." The chief threw gloves that matched the suit towards her. She lashed out with lightning speed and grabbed the gloves before she put them on she looked at her hands. " You're wondering how'd you do that, right?" "Yeah," she replied still looking at her hands. "Those are the drugs used to augment every function of the body needed for fighting. I see they've started to take effect. You probably have been feel'n pretty weird lately." "So I'm like you now?" she asked hoping he'd say yes. "Not yet but soon, very soon," he said trailing off. It seemed like the chief had gone into a trance to Karen, how could I know though she thought, he's got that helmet on. Seeming to have read her thoughts the chief snapped up "I need to show you something personally, before the rest get here." "Didn't they get the same message as I did?" she asked. "No," he said bluntly "I need you to see it first." The two walked down the hallway for a while. The chief asked only a few questions about her even though he already knew them. At the end of the hallway Karen saw a door that was different from the others. It was taller and wider than normal with a retinal scanner, a hand scanner, and probably the most primitive of all, a card slot. The chief stopped in front of the door and just waited. Suddenly the door started to open without him touching it at all. Karen watched in amazement. Then she heard the chief say "Thanks Cortana," she knew immediately what had happened, the infamous Cortana had opened the door wirelessly. All the other things are to deter potential snoopers, the master chief is the only one supposed to go in here. The chief stepped forward and turned around to see Karen still standing there. "You can come in, but you don't have to. You can wait and see it with the rest or you can see it now and ask me about it." Hearing that Karen jumped forward towards the door. "I thought so." When she entered she froze. The one thing that she had wanted since she came here was sitting or rather standing five feet in front of her. 


	2. Past and Present

Chapter 2: Blood, Sweat and Tears  
  
//AI Helmet Connection To Subject Karen //: Complete  
  
Karen was dumfounded, standing in a glass case was a black suit. The suit had a slight silver shimmer to it hovering next to it was a helmet that matched exactly to the suit. Gloves were also hovering nearby. Standing behind the case were two techs. One was the familiar Sarah while the other was somebody she didn't recognize. "You should put the gloves and socks on now." Karen put both gloves and both socks. Once they were on she felt a pulling. She realized that the gloves and socks were combing to the suit. The stretching stopped and she noticed that there was no seam line between the socks and gloves. "Karen since you are the squad commander you get this first. This is the Mark-7 MJOLNIR suit. It is just a more high- tech Mark-6." Karen just stood looking at it. Then a small white line appeared going vertical on the glass. The glass then moved so that it was only half of what it used to be, the tech Karen didn't recognize moved towards the suit and motioned silently for Karen to come over. Since the chief had told her about the suit he had moved to the back of the room and seem to be fumbling something in his hand. "My name is Sam. I'll be your suit tech from now on." "What about Sarah?" she said not concealing her worry. "Oh. She will still be your main tech, I just help with your suit." "Oh. No offense but I consider Sarah as a big sister." This caught Sarah by surprise, she turned her head to see Karen looking directly at her. Karen hoped that Sarah would reply. "Thank you,' mouthed Sarah. Thank god thought Karen as she looked at her feet. She looked up in time to see a tear come down Sarah's cheek. Sam had grabbed both boots from the suit and was waiting for Karen to get back to the suit. "Since we usually don't make suits for fourteen year old girls it will be a little big," sensing worry in Karen's eyes Sam added quickly, "Don't worry it'll form to you once the whole suit is together." "Thank god I thought I'd have a huge suit for a couple years till I grew into it." Sam couldn't help but smile and give small chuckle. " Here lift you foot up," Karen lifted her foot up and had the metal boot put on it. This process repeated until everything but the helmet was on. "Okay. Now this is important. The helmet has a HUD for ammo, shield energy and battle info. Since your commander your helmet will have red dots appear when a unit acknowledges you. It might be snug at first but don't worry." Sam took the helmet and slid it over her head. Her Brown hair was taken up into the helmet and held in place. Suddenly Karen felt a squeezing and saw that the whole suit was moving, conforming to every part of her body so that it felt more comfortable and tighter. "Engaging suit connection." When Sam finished saying this the under suit Karen was wearing started to heat up. "What I just did was to have your under suit turned on. What that means is that you will stay warm in cold environments and vice versa. Also the suit will now feel like it almost isn't even there." Sam waited a moment, "Can you hear me?" "Yes" Karen replied. "You can take your helmet off now everything is finishe-" "No, wait." The master chief moved towards Karen. He extended his hand and Karen saw what it was, it was a small AI chip. "This is from me." Karen grabbed the chip gingerly and fit it into the slot in the helmet. "This is Cortana's 'sister'." As if in her head Karen heard a voice nearly identical to Cortana. "Hello, my name is Nephritis." "Nephritis?" Karen asked. "Yep. I will give you all the info you would ever need." "I'm sorry to ruin you meeting but I need to do some diagnostic work on the computer." "I have to take the whole suit off?" "Oh no. Just the helmet." "Oh okay." Karen took the helmet off and handed it to Sam. "Karen can I talk to you, if it's okay with the chief?" it was Sarah. "It's okay. I have to meet the others now anyway." "Thanks." Karen walked over to Sarah. "What did you want?" "I want to talk to you about your past. There isn't any info on you." "That's because I was born right before Rafey 3 was destroyed. They never had time to enter by info." "How'd you escape?" "My parents got me on a lifeboat before the planet was glassed." "Then we found you at age five and trained you for the Spartan program. Your parents would have been proud." She looked down and saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I want you to know that I consider you a little sister." Karen looked at Sarah and hugged her hard. "Um, Karen not so hard, you're a lot stronger than I am." "Sorry" she said. 


	3. Will you be mine?

Chapter 3: Will you be mine?  
  
//MJOLNIR Battle System Diagnostic //: Complete  
  
It had been three months since Karen got the armor. Nothing had changed much. She grew three inches, mostly due to the enhancements, she was now 5' 7" with one more predicted growth. She was still, if not more, despised by the squad.  
  
"Watch out!" yelled Nephritis. Blue streaks were piercing the darkness of the Thandon night. "Got it." Karen fired short bursts from her Battle Rifle in to the approximate direction of the shots. She saw what she wanted. The flare of an Elite's shield was visible to all. Immediately thirty more Battle Rifles rattled at the Elite. "No life signs, he's dead Karen. Good job." "Thanks Nephritis," replied Karen. Then in a flash the surroundings flashed and disappeared around Karen. The master chief walked through a door nodding his head in improvement. "Good, you showed you could handle an Elite. The tactics you used were perfect having a 'spotter' is good. Also," turning to Karen, "You have an AI with you. Let's see how you fare with this." Instantly two Elites pooped up along with three Jackals and five Grunts. "Let's see how you'll do," the chief said with a hint of amusement in his voice. The ten figures disappeared going to their positions in the simulation. A horn sounded signaling the start. Immediately the five Grunts came charging out of the darkness. Karen along with eight others instantaneously pumped them full of lead. In the background three plasma shields flared up. The Jackals were coming. "They'll be harder," she called. One of the Jackals decided to charge-up his plasma pistol. "Fire a rocket Brian!" Two seconds later the tell tale Thump! Of a rocket launching was heard. The rocket was aimed at the middle Jackal so as to do the most damage to them. When the rocket hit a huge flash went up along with dirt going fifteen feet in the air. The one charging-up was dead along with the middle one. The one on the left was mortally wounded but managed to shoot at an exposed Spartan 'killing' him instantly. Minutes went by but the Elites never came out of cover. "AAAAHHHH!!" Karen heard squad member scream and turned to see that the two Elites had flanked them and came from behind. Blue streaks started hitting other members of the squad that were closest to the Elites. Before Karen was hit she saw one Elite pull out a plasma grenade and ignite it.  
  
It was over all of the squad was 'killed' with one Elite still standing unharmed. "You did well seeing as that was the first Covenant basic assault squad you had ever seen." Moans of disagreement were heard from almost all of them. "Don't worry. we're done for today." Sighs of relief came from the squad as the under suits were reactivated. As Karen was leaving the simulator she heard somebody call out her name. "Karen wait, Karen!" She turned around to see that it was Brian, the rocket launcher of the squad. "Huh?!" she replied. "I want to ask you something." "What is it?" "Uh. do you. um." "Spit it out," she said bluntly. "Do you have a boyfriend?!!!" he blurted out. All nearby turned to see if what they heard was true. A popular person like Brian asking Karen to be his girlfriend? Nah, couldn't be they thought. Karen was taken back. She was pretty, very pretty actually, but who in their right mind would want to ask her out. "Huh?" was all that she could muster. "You heard me," he gathered his strength and asked again "Do you have a boyfriend?" "No, of course not," she replied. "Well I want you to be mine." "I don't-" "I want take no for an answer." The blond hair, sun tanned boy had a small smirk across his face. "A-Are you sure?" she replied "Yeah of course." Brian stepped forward and took her hand. It wasn't very romantic with the armor gloves but it was already farther than she had ever gotten into a relationship. 


	4. Heaven in Hell

Chapter 4: Heaven in Hell  
  
//Password: New Beginnings Saving. //: Complete  
  
"Well it seems our bes- second best chance at saving humanity has a boyfriend." "Oh," replied the chief with a smirk on his rarely exposed face. Him and Sarah were looking over the Commons at the kids. "Yep, a boy named Brian asked her after the sim. Very handsome, the right type for her." The kids were in their under suits, the main uniform. Most were playing holo-sims and practicing. Karen and Brian were watching a movie though. "Do you think she'll warm-up to the idea of having one," asked Sarah. " In 'one' I'm guessing that that means a boyfriend?" "Yes," she replied. "I don't know. She likes to keep things to herself. Cortana tells me she talks to Nephritis a lot though." "About what?" "Girl stuff." "Did she tell you what though?" she asked getting pushier. "Those words exactly: Girl stuff." "Well I hope she tells me-" As if hit she realized what it was. "She does like Brian!" "Bingo." "Why wouldn't she tell me though, is it because- wait you knew? I thought Cortana didn't tell you what she told Nephritis?" "I only said Cortana, Nephritis told me." "Why?" "She thought I needed to know." Sarah turned to see that Karen was snuggling with Bryan. "It's late they need their sleep." "Okay, I just-" "Don't dwell on it. She's fourteen, all teens do this to their mot- guardians." Sarah walked down walked down the metal stairs to her quarters. What the chief said had stung. Sarah wasn't Karen's mother. Then an idea hit her. She sat down at her terminal and called up one of the genesists and asked him to do a small experiment on her and Karen. She had a feeling it would make the crack between them a giant chasm. 


	5. The Beginning of the End

Chapter 5: The Beginning of the End  
  
//All System Double Check //: . Pending Confirmation.  
  
One year had passed since Karen had gotten a boyfriend. She was fifteen now and now the most popular person in the squad. She was in heaven. Graduation was one year away and seeming to come faster and faster. The training was now field operations, learning how to call in air support, survival techniques, and most important, how to kick the Covenants ass. "Hey you." "Hello Karen," said Brian in a playful voice. "Come hear." Brian walked towards where his locator said she was. "Why?" " 'Cause," she replied "I want to show you something." "Okay," he said, his heart beating. "Where are you?" "Nowhere particular." He looked around the clearing where he thought she was. Brian started to make circles trying to find her. "Ha Ha," "What." "That's what," she replied. When she finished saying that Brian felt his stomach plummet. She had set a trap for him! The ground around him caved away revealing a ten-foot circle around him. "Dammit!" He fell about eight feet before hitting the ground. "Are you okay?" she said with worry in her voice. No answer. Karen jumped down from the tree and ran towards the hole she had made. She slid down the side of the wall that was less steep so he could get out. "Nephritis, is he okay?" "Life signs are norma-" Brian jumped up from the ground knocking Karen over. "Thought you knocked me out?" he said with a hint of sensuality in his voice. "No," she whispered back. She tried to get up to catch him off guard but was beat to the punch. Bryan had her arms pinned to the ground with his. His legs were on either side of her waists preventing her from having any chance at retaliating. "You're good you know," she said, also with a hint of sensuality. "Thanks." "Want to let me up?" "No, not really. I have you where I want you." Positioning his elbows so that her arms were still pinned down to the ground. He reached up and took off his helmet to show his face with a large grin on it. He then took off Karen's helmet. Around her ear was a small silverish loop with a small microphone extending down her cheek. "So I'm always with Nephritis," she clarified. Brian started to get closer to her face slowly. Their lips were almost touching. "Karen I've got some confusing info here to tell you." Karen tilted her head and Brian hit her cheek. "What's wrong?" She forced both of her hands up and raised one hand. Wait. The other went to the ear link and she pressed it against her ear. " What the hell.?" "Yes, squads of Banshees are inbound." "How many?" she asked. "Not sure, they seem to be clustering to mask how many are really there." "Dammit!" "What's wrong?" asked Brian. Karen paused a moment before answering. "The covenant are coming." 


	6. The Last Stand

Chapter 6: The Last Stand  
  
//Covenant Reported Subject Karen, Would You Like To Attack? Voice Confirmation Needed. //: ".Let's kick some ass Nephritis."  
  
Karen jumped up knocking Brian over. He just sat on the ground looking stunned. Karen decided to wait to let it sink in. No use, she thought. "Brian we need to move, now." He just sat there like he hadn't even heard her. Frustrated Karen slapped him across the face. It worked. Brian was now alert and already picking up his helmet. Karen ran over to him and kissed him hard on the lips. "What ever happens, I will still love you," she whispered. "That's good to know," he replied. The two put their helmets on and ran at a full sprint to the base.  
  
"What's wrong?" "I don't know. Our sensors show thousands of Covenant troops moving through the forest at an astounding speed," replied someone. "Sound all alerts. The crap has hit the fan hard." Red lights started to flash and a loud wailing sound of the alarms. "God help us all."  
  
Karen heard what Nephritis had told her coming over their heads. The whining engines of the Banshee pierced the quiet of the forest. She looked up to see five shadows move over the trees. Then the Chug Chug of flak was heard. Thumps of the heavy shells slamming into metal were heard along with a screeching of metal as it was bent on impact with something. Karen saw the main door ahead. When she got closer Karen saw that the chief was already waiting with the thirty recruit Spartans outside. Five had sniper rifles, five had rocket launchers and the rest had battle rifles. She fell into line and heard the briefing by the chief. "We have at least 2,000 Covenant coming. There are also 2,000 marines hear plus you thirty-two. The odds are still against us though. Any questions?" One kid raised his hand. "Yes?" "Where will we be fighting?" "Good question. We will be fighting on a thirty-foot tall containment wall one mile out around the base. It has enough room on the top to have a Scorpion on top. There are also LAAG cannon towers every 40' feet. This is our first and last line of defense." Nobody said a word as five personnel carrier Warthogs came up. The recruits weren't split up but were spread out along the side that the Covenant was believed to be attacking hardest. Sure enough Scorpions were lined up on the top of the wall with their cannons pointing up for a round of shelling. Silence ensued until dusk when the Scorpions started firing. The blasts were deafening. Explosions were heard in the forest. The Banshees had stopped making their patrols hours before meaning the attack would begin soon. Out of the low fog forming small figures were seen. Immediately the roar of battle rifles was heard mowing the creatures down and spraying their light blue blood on the ground. Again Grunts popped out of the mist into an open area about 200 yards from the base of the wall to be torn apart by a wall of lead. The waves kept getting bigger and bigger. Then Jackals started to appear. With their shields they lasted a lot longer, getting shots off and killing marines. Karen was, unfortunately, right where the action was. The Jackals seemed to have been making a wall to shield something. Out of the mist came seven-foot tall creatures with shiny armor. They were the Elites. They raised their arms with the plasma rifle and unleashed a barrage of blue plasma at the wall. Most splashed against the top burning a few marines, some weren't as lucky though. One marine was hit square in the chest. Blood sprayed on the ground as his upper torso was almost removed. He died before he hit the ground. Karen, witnessing this, felt the anger inside of her get to a boil point. Not even aiming she emptied a whole magazine into the Elites. The dark shapes in the mist slumped to the ground spraying purple blood on their comrades. Then two large blue plasma swords flared up. The two gold Elites felt the same anger that Karen had just felt, too bad for them their valiant charge was cut to shreds, literally, by a wall of lead. For hours this went on men were dieing on both sides at the same rate. Then something monstrous came lumbering out of the woods. 


	7. The Hunted

Chapter 7: The Hunted  
  
//Subject Karen Review of Battle History //: Complete  
  
The large shape moved forward at a slow pace. By now it was almost dark so Karen called for somebody to put a search light on the monster. A bright beam swung around and centered itself on it. The creature had a metallic blue armor with large spikes on it's back. On it's left arm was a gigantic metal shield. On it's right was a fuel rod gun glowing green on top. "Hunter!!!" yelled an unknown person. The Hunter started to move toward the wall again. It looked around at its surroundings. Bullets were ricocheting off the armor doing no damage. The Grunt that was in front of it spun around and ran right into the Hunter. Immediately it swung the large shield on it's arm. In an explosion of blood and armor the Grunt disappeared from the impact. Karen stood horrified at the tremendous power this creature possessed. "All LAAG gunners that can confirm visually the Hunter open fire," called out Nephritis. Karen snapped out of her trance and heard a loud roar of 99mm rounds being shot at the hunter. That got his attention. The gun he held started to glow a brilliant green color. The Hunter jumped back as it released the plasma charge at the wall. It exploded on the wall tearing a huge chunk out and spraying shrapnel everywhere. Karen's shields flared as she was hit with a wash of plasma and shrapnel. She looked over to see three marines torn apart by the explosion. The whole wall shook from the impact. Karen grabbed a grenade and chucked it at the Hunter. "How do you like this you asshole," she screamed. The grenade landed two feet away and rolled another towards the Hunter. The grenade detonated in a shower of shrapnel. Sparks sprayed off the Hunter's armor and landed on the ground. Recovering from the shock the Hunter charged towards the wall. It lowered its shoulder and put the shield in front of itself and hit the wall. Karen looked down in time to see the Hunter hit the wall and feel the shaking from the smash. Karen thought that she saw the wall actually rock back and forth from the impact. "Brian I need some heavy firepower now." No answer. "Brian?" she called again. "Karen, he's.dead." "What you can't be serious," she said trying to keep from running to where he was. "He was attacked by a Hunter." "I'm going to see him." "No, we need you here," she replied. "I'm no use, I've barely killed ten covenant." "Still, it helps the marines to know a Spartan is there." It was no use though Karen had already decided to go see for herself.  
  
She looked down at the charred torso that was Brian's. Lying five feet away was the Hunter that killed him. Still farther over was the lower half of Brian. "He was blown off the wall by a plasma grenade. The Hunter charged up a shot and fired it at near point blank range. Still standing he got two shots off before the Hunter severed him in half against the wall." "How did the Hunter die?" "Apparently the Hunters have almost no armor on their backs. By luck he got a plasma grenade he had found and stuck it to it's back." Karen was holding back tears as she looked at the one person she loved in her life. She dared not taking his helmet off fearing she'd see a pile of burned human flesh. Feeling anger grow in her she went back to her area on the wall at full speed. Arriving there she ran down the inner stairs and walked out the bottom with her rifle loaded and ready to go. Seeing the Hunter she unloaded a full clip on it to get its attention. Looking at the small human (to their standards) walking defiantly towards it the Hunter charged up another shot. Realizing this Karen jumped to the side to dodge the oncoming shot. When the green blob hit the ground with tremendous strength. Dirt was thrown ten feet in the air and in every direction. Karen was knocked down by the concussion caused by it. Realizing this was her chance she got up and ran at full speed to get around it. Thankfully the other Covenant were occupied or in awe as Karen took on the Hunter. Karen's stomach plunged at the speed the Hunter possessed. Firing a normal shot, Karen was knocked down by the explosion of the plasma two feet away. Her shields flared and were wiped out by the plasma spray. Knowing it was over she scurried backwards and called all that could here. "My name is Karen. I am a Spartan 2b. I am fifteen. My last words are shoot the Hunters in the back where their armor is weakest. I have no chance to survive so on my behalf kill this son of a-." The roar of LAAG cannons and assault weapons blurred out her last words. The back of the Hunter bringing death to her exploded in a shower of flesh, blood and metal. Karen had already taken her helmet off and lay on the ground. In the last twitches of death fired a plasma shot into Karen's gut. 


	8. The Aftermath

Chapter 8: The Aftermath  
  
//Review of Subject Karen and Battle History //: Complete "Thank You Nephritis that's all I need now. Oh, please delete her records. Let this girl be in peace." "Yes master chief. I will delete all her files. //: Deletion in Progress.  
  
"Get her to critical one now!" Karen was lying on a hover table in the hospital wing of the base. "Somebody get her armor off." "We'll do what we can," replied a doctor. Karen's brown hair was sprawled all over the table. Dirt was sprayed all over her face. Red and orange blood was speckled on her face from her and the Hunter. She would never be able to see her world again due to the plasma blinding her. "Karen, Karen!!" Sarah was running next to her holding her exposed hand. "I have something to tell you." Karen tried to manage to say something but could only make a small grunt. "I was going to wait till you were sixteen but," holding back tears she finished, " back when you said you thought that I was a big sister to you," Karen nodded as she remembered the incident almost two years ago, "Well. I.am.your sister." Sarah felt Karen's grip get tighter on her hand. "I had a DNA test and we are both sisters."  
  
Karen couldn't believe what she was hearing. The one person she considered s sister was her sister. She grabbed Sarah's hand tighter never wanting to let go as long as she lived.  
  
Sarah knew Karen wouldn't make it by what the doctors were saying. All she could do was comfort her in the last moments of her life. The team rounded a corner and saw the critical room ahead. Another team was already waiting for their patient. Then Sarah felt it. The grip on her hand was loosening. "No, Karen hold on you'll be o.k." Tears were rolling down her cheek blurring her vision she wiped her eyes and saw Karen's rigid body loosen up. Her hand loosened up and fell to the table. The doctors took her pulse and pronounced her dead. Sarah fell to the ground and broke down in tears. Doctors tried to comfort her but nothing would help. She had lost her only family member to an alien species. She hoped they would all burn in hell.  
  
The master chief drove up on a warthog and walked to the edge of the wall. He picked up a battle rifle and opened fire. Nothing that he hit would live. Blood sprayed everywhere as the 8.25mm rounds tore holes in the covenant. He went till he ran out of ammo. Picking up a pistol from the pool of blood from a marine he blew the heads off eight Elites causing geysers of purple blood to spray out. This was revenge for Karen. 


	9. Ripples In the Water

Chapter 9: Ripples In the Water  
It had turned out that when a UNSC cruiser was captured inbound to Thandon a captured marine told where Thandon was located. Still sour from losing it to the humans the covenant decided to attack to get back their planet. The Covenant didn't know that 33 Spartans were there though. They were severely under manned to cope with Spartans waiting for them because the marine didn't know they were there either. That surprised top brass because the Covenant seemed to have a passion for overkill, mostly after the master chief destroyed the ring world. All of the training worlds for new soldiers were reinforced due to the attack. All soldiers now wore implants that would erase all memory of important information; they kept their fighting skills of course. Thandon was also reinforced to protect the remaining Spartans. This would be the first and last class though from Thandon, since the attack training would be conducted on another planet. It had taken weeks for all personnel to find the remaining Covenant. When the attack went wrong the battle cruisers left orbit leaving behind their soldiers. New reports showed that in fact 4,000 Covenant had touched foot on the surface. 3,379 were killed initially, 200+ have been killed since then. Of the 3,000 or so marines 925 were killed in total with a few here and there from wounds and clean up. Out of the 32 training Spartans 11 had been killed in the battle, including Karen and Brian. All of the Spartans were buried in their MJOLNIR armor in an exclusive grave. Sarah eventually got over the death of Karen. She was allowed to keep one thing of her sisters, the helmet. Know one knows why she chose it, not even her but it sits in a small case in her room. The master chief was called two weeks after the attack to help with an attack on one of the Covenants main worlds. The battle was expected to last at least six months. The remaining Spartans would join in after three months. The humans were finally striking back with a crimson colored fist. For some reason the spot where Karen died was the only area that seems to be growing back. A plausible explanation was that because the Grunts' blood along with Elites' are high in acidity and are preventing anything from growing. But most who were at the battle know why things are growing there. Karen gave her life to save others and someone of a higher power saw it and honored her.  
  
Hey, this is mchmstr. This was my first fiction that I've let others read. I mostly write Halo because I know a lot about it. I do have another story that I co-wrote with my friend it's called Kingdom Farts; it's in the Kingdom Hearts area under parody and pg-13. The author is shenrin because I didn't have an account then so I couldn't post it. I wasn't sure if I should write a sequel to this but shenrin convinced me to. I have an idea but no title, so if you throw stuff out there I might use it'll be hard because you don't know the plot but hey! If you liked this story or you didn't just tell me so I know what to do different or to do better. Tell me though if I should re-write a story I have previously written:  
  
The master chief is in an ice world when he finds his former partner Kelly. But the Covenant have done something that he doesn't know about but they want her back. Can he stop them from taking somebody he has feelings for or will she become a Covenant hybrid?  
  
If you like it just say so in a review, put all other things that I wanted to know about in a review also. Thanks for reading Halo: The Recruit, hope you liked it.  
  
"I demand that we sink faster!" Thumbtanic. Note: I don't own Thumbtanic or anything associated with O entertainment. Just to be safe. 


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